Tigers won't dwell on missed chances

The Pacific men's basketball team didn't just miss a lot of shots on Thursday at Cal Poly, it missed out on a chance to move up in the Big West Conference standings.

Jagdip Dhillon

The Pacific men's basketball team didn't just miss a lot of shots on Thursday at Cal Poly, it missed out on a chance to move up in the Big West Conference standings.

A couple of hours after the Mustangs scored 47 second-half points to beat the Tigers 67-62, first-place Long Beach State was hammered 94-73 at Hawaii. The results left the top of the standings unchanged with the 49ers (13-9, 9-2 Big West) still leading Pacific (13-9, 7-3) by 1 1/2 games, with the Warriors (14-9, 8-4) moving into third place.

"It was a blown opportunity for us," said junior forward Ross Rivera, who had eight points on 2-of-8 shooting at Mott Gym. "We have to put it behind us and come out hot (today)."

The Tigers will visit UC Santa Barbara (7-15, 3-8) at 7 p.m. today. The Gauchos are in ninth place and outside the top eight spots that qualify for next month's conference tournament. Pacific won the first meeting 80-62 on Jan. 10.

Coach Bob Thomason said he's not worried about the standings, just how his team played Thursday.

"I'm so sick about how we played and considering how important that game was for us, that's disappointing," Thomason said. "Santa Barbara is in a desperate situation and have their backs to a wall, so we have to come out, match that and outplay them. We have to bring the fight as a team."

Pacific held 19-10 and 38-31 leads at Cal Poly, but the Tigers' 38.9 percent shooting made sustaining success impossible.

"We missed a lot of shots that we usually make," said junior guard Sama Taku, who was 1 for 4 for three points. "We were missing shots and committing some silly turnovers, and it all adds up."

Rivera said the Tigers tend to relax when they build a lead on the road. It's something they can get away with at home, but not away from Spanos Center.

"We have to learn to welcome the silence on the road that comes with being up and be comfortable in that like we are at home when the crowd is cheering for us," Rivera said.

Thomason said his focus on Friday was to correct the team's fundamental breakdowns and make sure the Tigers are focused on today's game and not Thursday's defeat.

"We just didn't play well," Thomason said. "We didn't rotate, we didn't keep the ball in front of us on defense and we didn't share it either.

"But in athletics sometimes things just happen, so you have to learn from what happened and move on."

Taku said Long Beach State's loss means the Tigers still control their own destiny, with the teams playing in the regular-season finale March 9 at Spanos Center.